Technology
Inventions and engineering.
Category: Knowledge, Material culture
- c. 1400 BCEUgarit's scribes write an alphabet in cuneiform
Around 1400 BCE scribes at Ugarit use about thirty signs, pressed into clay, to write the Ugaritic language. The letter order resembles the Phoenician alphabet. The city's archives also use Akkadian, Sumerian, Hittite, Hurrian and Egyptian.
- c. 1320 BCEThe Uluburun shipwreck
A merchant ship sinks off southern Turkey around 1320 BCE carrying about 10 tons of Cypriot copper, a ton of tin, some 175 glass ingots, ebony, ivory and Canaanite jars. Found in 1982 and excavated 1984-1994, it points to a Levantine crew with two Mycenaeans aboard.
- c. 100 BCEThe Antikythera mechanism
A hand-cranked analogue computer of the late 2nd or early 1st century BCE predicts the Sun, Moon and eclipses, and tracks the Olympiad cycle. Sponge divers recover it from a Roman wreck at Antikythera in 1900-1901. Its date and origin are debated.
- 794Baghdad builds its first paper mill
In 794-795 Baghdad gets its first paper mill, and paper soon spreads across the Islamic world and begins to replace papyrus. The tradition that Chinese prisoners taken at Talas (751) brought papermaking to Samarkand is doubted, since paper was already used in Central Asia.
- c. 1030Guido of Arezzo completes his antiphoner prologue on staff notation
The Italian monk Guido of Arezzo, teacher at Arezzo cathedral, set out a method of notating pitch on a ruled staff and of teaching singers with the ut-re-mi syllables. The work is dated to about 1030.
- 1420 – March 25, 1436Brunelleschi builds the dome of Florence Cathedral
Construction of Filippo Brunelleschi's dome over Florence Cathedral begins in 1420. Pope Eugene IV consecrates the church with the completed dome on 25 March 1436.
- c. 1455Gutenberg Bible printed
Movable-type printing in Mainz produces the first major book in Europe.
- 1465The first dated books printed in Italy appear at Subiaco
German printers Konrad Sweynheym and Arnold Pannartz, working at Subiaco near Rome, print Cicero's De oratore (September 1465) and Lactantius' Divinae institutiones (October 1465), the first dated books printed in Italy.
- 1466Mentelin prints the first German Bible in Strasbourg
In 1466 Johannes Mentelin prints in Strasbourg the first Bible in German, a High German translation from the Vulgate. It is reprinted at least thirteen times before 1518, well before Luther.
- 1469John of Speyer begins printing in Venice
John of Speyer, granted a five-year printing monopoly by the Venetian Senate, prints Cicero's Epistolae ad familiares, the first book printed in Venice and the start of the city's printing trade.
- 1482Erhard Ratdolt prints the first edition of Euclid's Elements
The printer Erhard Ratdolt, working in Venice, issues the first printed edition of Euclid's Elements, solving the problem of reproducing geometric diagrams in print.
- 1488The first complete printed Hebrew Bible appears at Soncino
In 1488 the Soncino printers in northern Italy publish the first complete printed Hebrew Bible, without commentary. Most sources date its completion to 22 April 1488; some give February.
- 1494Aldus Manutius founds the Aldine Press in Venice
The scholar-printer Aldus Manutius founds the Aldine Press in Venice. Its first publication, in March 1495, is Constantine Lascaris' Greek grammar Erotemata with a Latin translation.
- 1501Petrucci prints the Harmonice Musices Odhecaton in Venice
Ottaviano Petrucci published the first book of polyphonic music printed from movable type. It spread the Franco-Flemish style across Europe. Its dedication is dated 15 May 1501; the exact printing date is unknown.
- April 1501Aldus Manutius prints a pocket Virgil in italic type
In April 1501 the Aldine Press issues Virgil in a small octavo format, set in a new italic type cut by Francesco Griffo, the first italic type made for Aldus.
- 1502Leonardo maps the town of Imola
Working for Borgia, Leonardo draws a plan of Imola seen from directly above, a method unusual at the time. Most sources place it in autumn 1502.
- August 1502Leonardo becomes military engineer to Cesare Borgia
Leonardo is appointed military architect and engineer to Cesare Borgia, commander of the papal army, and inspects fortifications across central Italy.
- 1514 – 1520The Complutensian Polyglot, the first printed polyglot Bible, is produced in Alcalá
Funded by Cardinal Cisneros, the six-volume Bible in Hebrew, Aramaic, Greek and Latin is printed at Alcalá de Henares in 1514–1517 and issued in 1520–21. It holds the first printed Greek New Testament.
- 1516Erasmus publishes the first Greek New Testament on sale
In 1516 Desiderius Erasmus's Novum Instrumentum, with the Greek text beside his own Latin, is printed by Johann Froben in Basel. Its Greek became the basis of the Textus Receptus used by Luther and the King James Bible.
- 1517Daniel Bomberg prints the first Rabbinic Bible in Venice
In 1517 the Venetian printer Daniel Bomberg issues the first Mikraot Gedolot, the Hebrew Bible with Aramaic translations and commentaries. A corrected second edition under Jacob ben Hayyim became the standard.
- October 31, 1517Luther's Ninety-five Theses
Martin Luther's challenge to indulgences sparks the Protestant Reformation.
- 1543Copernicus publishes De revolutionibus
A heliocentric model of the cosmos appears in print.
- 1551Robert Estienne numbers the verses of the New Testament
In his 1551 Greek–Latin New Testament, printed in Geneva, Robert Estienne first prints verse numbers, and does so for the Hebrew Bible in 1553. They complete the chapter-and-verse system still used to cite Scripture.
- 1568 – 1573Plantin prints the Antwerp Polyglot for Philip II
From 1568 to 1573 Christophe Plantin prints the eight-volume Biblia Regia in Antwerp, with Benito Arias Montano overseeing the texts and Philip II paying. It proves Plantin's Catholic loyalty and nearly ruins him.
- 1581Ivan Fedorov prints the Ostrog Bible, the first complete Church Slavonic Bible
In 1581 Ivan Fedorov prints at Ostroh, under Prince Konstanty Ostrogski, the first complete Bible in Church Slavonic, also the first in Cyrillic type. It becomes a model for later Russian editions.
- January 1610Galileo observes the Moons of Jupiter
Telescope observations show bodies orbiting another planet.
- March 13, 1610Galileo publishes Sidereus Nuncius and dedicates it to the Medici
Published in Venice on 13 March 1610, Galileo's Sidereus Nuncius is dedicated to his former pupil Cosimo II de' Medici. He names Jupiter's four moons after the Medici brothers, which helps him win a Medici court post.
- 1663John Eliot's Massachusett Bible is printed in Cambridge, Massachusetts
In 1663 the Puritan missionary John Eliot, with Massachusett assistants such as James Printer, publishes a complete Bible in the Massachusett language, the first in an Indigenous American language. The New Testament came out in 1661.
- c. 1700Bartolomeo Cristofori's piano is recorded in the Medici inventory
The Florentine instrument maker Bartolomeo Cristofori, employed by Prince Ferdinando de' Medici, built a keyboard that could play soft and loud. The 1700 Medici inventory is the first unambiguous record of the piano.
- July 20, 1969Apollo 11 lands on the Moon
Armstrong and Aldrin become the first humans on the lunar surface.
- July 24, 2008Codex Sinaiticus goes online
From 24 July 2008 the four institutions holding Codex Sinaiticus, including the British Library and Saint Catherine's Monastery, publish it online. Pages reunite what was split across Leipzig, London, Sinai and St Petersburg.